Thursday, 28 October 2010

I've been doing lots of knitting. I'm working on a pair of socks that have been languishing on the needles since we moved in and I'm also teaching myself stranded (Fair Isle) knitting.

I made the fingerless mitts above for my sister Sally for her birthday. The pattern is Ysolda Teague's 'Veyla' and it's great. A quick but very pretty knit and Sally is absolutely delighted with them.

And then Chris asked me to make him another pair of fingerless gloves, this time in dark red. These are a mish-mash of a couple of standard glove patterns. They're knitted in DK weight yarn so they should keep his hands nice and warm.

Many people wonder if fingerless gloves are effective. They really really are - they keep your wrists warm which helps and even though your fingers and their tips are exposed your hands are kept surprisingly toasty. Also, and in Chris's case this is of major importance, the free fingertips factor allows you to use the touch screen of your iPhone with ease. Result!

Wednesday, 27 October 2010

Yesterday I was sorting through my glass stash and I kept finding rods of glass that have been sat there for years. I looked at them and thought 'Why don't I ever use these?' and do you know, I didn't have a decent answer for myself.

Actually, that's not one hundred percent true. I kind of do know why I avoid certain glasses. Some of them do things that I don't like. Take Effetre Turquoise for example. I rarely use it and when I do it is in the form of stringer. I can count on the fingers of one hand how many times I've used it for base beads in my whole beadmaking life. It has a tendency to go a tad streaky and it also has a habit of developing a grey metallic sheen which can make the resulting beads look grubby.

But my reason was naff. Turquoise is a nice colour and many people love to wear it.

So I decided to make a set of beads out of plain, un-encased Effetre Turquoise and then I decorated them with some fine scrolly stringerwork in CiM French Blue. Yes, the turquoise went a little streaky. Yes, it got a grey sheen which I've now removed. But hey - those are some nice beads, even if I do say so myself!

These will be for sale on my website at 8.00pm UK time tonight. Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to dig out some long-forgotten glass and see what I can make with it .....

Monday, 25 October 2010

It took me ages this morning to clean all the beads that I made at the end of last week but they're all done now and can currently be found over in my Etsy shop. There are some strands of mixed pairs that would be great for making earrings. Please click here to take a look.

Wednesday, 20 October 2010

Green and purple. It's an odd colour pairing but I always like seeing it. In my mind it just works. The time of year greatly affects the feel of the combination, though. In spring mint green and lavender look fresh and floral. In summer emerald and purple look bright and cheery. If you pair olive and indigo in autumn it has that Halloween feel to it and that's exactly what I was going for with these beads.

Thursday, 14 October 2010

I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has left comments and sent emails and tweets about Buster. Your kind words and thoughts are really appreciated.

I started making these red beads on Tuesday morning and I had to stop after the Buster news on Tuesday afternoon. I carried on with them yesterday and they were really comforting to make. I've told you before that I like making polka dot beads when my mind is preoccupied - their repetitiveness and regularity is quite soothing. And of course you know how much I like red and white polka dots!

These three strands already have new homes but do check my Etsy shop tomorrow night as I'll be adding some beads to its virtual shelves then.

Tuesday, 12 October 2010

I'm finding typing this really hard as I'm looking at my laptop through tears. Dad called me this afternoon with some sad news. He was calling to say that Buster died this afternoon.

This was a total shock. I last saw Buster at the end of August and he was absolutely fine - eating, purring, sitting on my lap and generally just being himself. I always asked how he was whenever I spoke to Dad and the answer was always the same - he's fine.

But last night Buster was very ill and this morning he was even worse so Dad took him to the vet. The vet thinks that Buster has had bowel cancer for some time and last night something just went wrong. Because of his age - he was fourteen - the vet didn't think surgery and treatment would help him so Dad asked the vet to put Buster to sleep.

We'd had Buster since he was two. We got him from the Blue Cross and I fell in love with him the minute I saw him there. When I left home earlier this year I was distraught about leaving him and I've been missing him terribly. Chris doesn't like cats, you see, so Buster stayed with Dad. Although Buster was ill I'm pretty sure he wasn't suffering because as I say he was eating and everything and being his normal self.

I'm going to have to stop typing now. My laptop is getting very wet and I need to go and get a tissue and some paracetemol - I have a crying headache.

I just wanted to write a goodbye post for my Buster and to tell him thank you for being our cat. Love you, miss you and sleep well, FurryPurry. ~X~

Thursday, 7 October 2010

I've just put a few beads in my Etsy shop. There are some Lonelies, including those Berry ones up there, and there are also some sets of spotty beads that just would not behave for the camera last night!

And no, I haven't changed my photo setup. I just decided to take advantage of the autumn sunlight which shows the beads off beautifully.